


The Wizard and The Speedster

by Skellyagogo



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Tragedy, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Comfort/Angst, Depression, F/M, Female reader insert, Heavy Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:47:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23613259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skellyagogo/pseuds/Skellyagogo
Summary: A secret relationship leads to emptiness, powers kept hidden suddenly on full display.  A Prince Charming swoops in attempting to mend the broken.  One tries for a second chance, but only ends up seeing the future.  What will happen when the fate of the world and the one he loves is in danger?
Kudos: 2





	The Wizard and The Speedster

  


**********

Stephen hadn’t allowed himself to have anything that even remotely qualified as fun in almost a year, but Wong had forced him. Pushed and goaded him until he left the Sanctum. Left the pleasantries of his books and his cozy high backed armchair that sat next to a constant roaring fire. Left the comfort of silence and the quietness of being alone. He preferred it way, the quiet, alone with his thoughts and the ability to think without interruption. Most of all it was the only place that no longer reminded him of her.

The break-up wasn’t handled the best way, especially on his part. He never planned on falling in love with her, it shouldn’t have been in the cards at all, then again he never looked into his own future. She was sweet but unruly. Charming and yet crass. Her humor was dry and sometimes dark, but it made him laugh. Y/n made him feel like he hadn’t in years, young and alive. The heavy responsibility he always felt being the Sorceror Supreme lessened in her presence.

Old habits died hard for him. Ego and vanity and a smidge of pride tugged at him in the back of his mind. Wong had told Stephen to be gentle with her, not to take her for granted. He told him that a flower like her only comes along once in a lifetime, but Stephen didn’t listen. He let it all happen fast and furious, let her entangle herself in his life. Relishing in all the love and devotion, affections the likes of which he’d never experienced and yet he wondered if the grass was greener on the other side. If someone like Y/n could love him, was there someone better out there?

_The not so innocent way she looked at him while in the middle of a crowd in an attempt to make him blush or rile him up, even amid a mission. The sway of her hips knowing it’d make his eyes linger and leave him stuttering in whatever conversation he was trying to have with someone. She had a different sort of confidence about her and it affected him like a drug. Always wanting to see what she’d do next._

_Each memory of their short time together raging inside him. No matter how much he tried to forget her, he couldn’t. He was stubborn and selfish, qualities he hadn’t allowed himself to partake in since his accident. Stephen had let the attention she relished on him swell his pride and inflate his ego. She wanted him, needed him, constantly letting him know she desired him not just for his body, but for his intelligence. Often times spending hours listening to him read aloud, telling her stories of other realms and worlds._

_Straddled in his lap in his favorite chair near the fireplace, Y/n’s hands around his neck and his hair. Her soft lips on his. Stephen attempting to read a passage from the book in his hand, but the pull to free her from those infernal trappings of clothing becoming more intense. He remembers the sound of the book as it fell to the tile floor, the echo that rang around the room as the leatherbound novel slapped against the tiles._

_The sweet sultry moan that fled her mouth when his hands tore off her shirt. Palms cupping and massaging her breasts, the way her head fell back and her eyes closed the moment his mouth latched onto a nipple. She’d left herself open and vulnerable to him, whimpering out his name. Running his tongue up her chest only to attack her neck. Sucking and biting leaving a mark as her hips rolled into his. A flick of his wrist and an abuse of his power would have them both naked._

_Teasing her relentlessly, rubbing just outside her folds he sent a wave of magic vibrating over her clit. The shiver of her body rocking against his. Just when she’d hit the peak of her orgasm he’d slam himself inside. Y/n’s overstimulated cry egging him on. Ragged, raspy breaths from her mouth competing against his grunts as he thrust up inside her. He felt her tensing, her body rigid, fingers digging in trying to hold on._

_Bucking up, he quickened his pace yearning to hear that sound. That sweet sound of her voice crying out in bliss, that needy sound so distinct to only her. Stephen wondered how many times he could get her to cum. How long could she hold out before she pleaded for him to stop, too weak to continue? He loved seeing her like this and knowing he was the cause of it. Her rapturous moans, the slick hot wetness oozing out of her and pooling around him. He did that, he created that heavenly mess. She was the stress release he needed and he didn’t want to give her up, but all things change._

_He’d become smug and so sure of himself. She was the first to say ‘I love you’ and that only made it worse from that moment on. Stephen had taken something so pure and sweet and crushed it in his hand and she never saw it coming. So flooded with that cockiness just like when he was still a surgeon. His ego swelling with each and every touch from Y/n, suddenly he felt as if she wasn’t enough._

_He began to think he was a gift to all women, that if he could so easily get her affections who else could he attract. That deep seeded primal urge to find a mate with whom his line could continue. A woman who’d follow his lead without question, subservient. His attention towards her lessened, he found himself taking her for granted. Canceling dates and avoiding her calls, not even looking her way or acknowledging her when called upon for until the day she showed up on the door of the Sanctum._

_The pounding at the door only irritated him, tossing his book on the chair behind him as he stomped across the floor. He swung the door open with such anger glaring down at the interruption. The furious downpour of cold hard rain had her soaked to the bone. No umbrella to shelter her, only the hood of her jacket. She stood shivering, not from the cold but the pain to come, she’d come for a confrontation. He never offered for her to come inside or to get dry and warm, he only stood in the doorway and crossed his arms warmed by his own ego._

_The more she shivered and shook the more it seemed to affect the rain. It fell harder and heavier which each quake of her body. Thunder seemed to crackle and roar in the sky at each beat of her racing heart, lighting stuck at each blink of her eyes. 'Nothing more than illusion’, he thought, but if he’d only known._

_“Almost eight billion hearts beating on this planet and I had to fall in love with the one who doesn’t have one.” Her voice wasn’t raised, no malice in her words though there should have been._

_She appeared broken and shattered. He watched in his own unjust anger as the silent tears slid down her face mingling with the raindrops as they fell to the ground. Each teardrop shaking the ground beneath his feet. He could feel Wong approaching from behind ready to fight the cause of the chaos outside only to hear him skid to a stop and gasp at the sight on Y/n._

_“A woman’s love should never be taken for granted and I see now that you’re the only one fool enough to gamble with something so precious and rare. Goodbye Stephen, maybe someday you’ll realize the gift you threw away.” With that, she turned and disappeared in the throng of people racing to get out of the rain._

For weeks he wandered around the Sanctum in puzzled misery. Filled with emptiness, loneliness, and self-hatred not knowing where it’d come from. The quietness of it all, the walls closing in around him, locked in a tomb of his own making. Even the Cloak of Levitation kept away from him. That giant ego that swelled inside him began to shrivel into nothingness. An unfamiliar numbness crept throughout every fiber of his being.

He laid in his bed staring at the ceiling when sleep wouldn’t come to him. Tossing and turning his arms delved under the pillow on what had been her side of the bed. His fingers slid over the cool slickness of a metal chain. It’d been a gift the Sanctum had bestowed upon her, a simple silver chain embued with a barrier charm. She must have left it knowing she’d never come back. Clutching it in his palm he understood what Wong had meant, she was once in a lifetime and he let her go without a fight.

**********

_I sat in the middle of the hidden meadow deep in the forest of the Compound. The heartache filled every ounce of me. Sniffling and sobbing, clutching my knees to my chest I rocked myself back and forth. Trying to will anything to come to me besides the pain roaring inside. How had I allowed myself to fall for those eyes? Let myself be taken in by that voice and his words. I should have trusted my gut, but instead, I let my loneliness dictate my life._

_Almond sized raindrops splashed all around me in such force it stung each time I was hit. Penance for letting loneliness decide my fate. Surely I’d be left with unusual bruises in the morning. Lightning struck in the skies and even a tree or two around the clearing. Flashes of light illuminating my solitude in the dark._

_Shivering and trembling, I was soaked to the bone not caring about getting sick. I didn’t care, not a single fuck was given. I didn’t have it in me anymore. I was empty and crushed. Hating myself for ever thinking he’d be different. They were all the same. Take, take, take until there’s nothing left and suddenly you’re the problem not them. Thunderous rumblings in the skies above._

_Booming, cracking slaps of noise in the night. A flash of lightning and a crack of thunder. Over and over the pattern matched my hiccuped sobs. The storm becoming more violent. The hair on my neck slick with rain beginning to stand on end feeling the electrical charge. It’d only be a matter of time before things got out of hand, but how does one calm the storm of heartbreak?_

_Screaming out into the wind, letting it all out. Pounding my fists in the muddied ground. Bloodcurdling anguished cries barely muffled by the sounds of thunder. I hated myself, hated the world, but most of all I hated him. How could he? How could he treat me that way? I thought, … I thought we had something. Crying out and wailing into the storm I never saw the subtle flash of blue against the smokey grey and inky blackness._

_“Y/n, what’s happened?” His thick accent full of worry as he knelt before me. Hands on my shoulders feeling the shivering mess I’d made of myself. “You’re freezing.”_

_“I-I… I d-don’t k-know,” I mumbled through chattering teeth. “I-I’m b-b-broken.”_

_“Come,” his arms thread under my knees and arms and hoisted me up in the air snug to his chest. His brows knit together in concern as he watched my head settle in the crook of his neck. “Let’s get you warm Princessa.”_

_He sped through the woods and across the grassy fields of the Compound. His speed matched with the storm made the raindrops feel like knives slicing through my skin. Each raindrop felt as if it cut me down to the bone. If he felt it, he never let on, his focus was getting inside the living quarters as fast as possible. He mumbled something I didn’t hear the closer we got to the main doors. Crying and too numb to care whether or not we crashed into the doors, but they opened. F.R.I.D.AY.’s voice welcoming us home._

_“We don’t want to be disturbed,” Pietro called out to F.R.I.D.A.Y as we zipped up the stairwell and into his room._

_He sat me down on his bed without a word. Dripping wet and shivering he frowned turning on his heels and sped into his bathroom. It didn’t take long before a billowing wall of steam wafted out the door. Sounds of water in the shower splashing on the tile floor were followed by his cursing. A loud metallic bang echoed in the tiny room, the crunch of shattering tiles._

_“Damn it!” He hissed, I could hear him rushing about. Sounds of water filling a tub twinkled in my ears._

_Tony was nothing if not a man of luxury and that luxury and comfort stretched into the rest of the living quarters. We each had spacious rooms complete with a nice size bathroom that included tubs large enough to fit even Thor comfortably inside them. Pietro came barreling out of his bathroom and scooped me up carrying me inside. I glimpsed the showerhead from his shower stall broken and on the floor. It hit with such force it’d broken some tiles, normally I would have laughed at Pietro’s terrible luck, but there was nothing in me._

_“You need to warm up, please,” he turned his back allowing me some privacy. “It may be a little too hot so be careful.”_

_I turned numbly glancing at the jacuzzi tub, it wasn’t just full of steaming water, but bubbles. Filing that little bit of information away for later processing that Pietro enjoyed bubble baths. Trembling I tried to pull off my clothes, my fingers curled with loss of feeling I struggled to even get a grip on my shirt. Groaning in agitation through clattering teeth, Pietro cocked his head to the side hearing my frustrations._

_“Do you need help?” There was no hint of sexualized innuendos or smugness, only soft worry._

_“Please,” the whimper was low and defeated._

_He turned around with careful focus, steadfast nimble fingers lifting my shirt up over my head. His eyes on mine trying to be the gentleman people didn’t think he could be. Unfastening the button on my jeans, the heavy material stuck to my thighs. Hesitantly he hooked his fingers through the hem of my panties and my jeans. Turning his head to the side facing away he knelt down tugging them with him. His warm wet palm wrapped around my ankle lifting up freeing me from the weight of the jeans._

_He was behind me before I could blink unhooking my bra. Gentle fingers brushed my shoulders sliding off the straps. It was so quiet that his gulped swallow sounded as if it was a scream. He coughed and took a step back. I assumed he turned himself around again. The chill of the rain and the exhaustion of Stephen’s betrayal zapped me of all energy. My body wavered, light-headed I stumbled. Closing my eyes and holding out my hands attempting to lessen the hit against the edge of the tub, the hit that never came._

_Pietro’s arms engulfed around me holding me steady. Fingers careful not to roam, he pulled his second act like Prince Charming for the night. An arm swept under my knees and around my shoulders. Two steps, two slowed steps forward and he was setting me in the tub. He sat with his back against the tub and brought his knees to his chest._

_The shocking contrast, going from freezing to sitting in a toasty hot tub. Bubbles popping and sputtering around me, some sticking to my skin. Stretching out my leg letting the warmth take over. The scent of vanilla clung to my nose, sweet like a sugar cookie. My head fell back resting on the tub. Pietro’s arm reached across the edge of the tub turning on the jets. Whirling water churning and spurting on my muscles._

_For the first time that night, I felt something other than empty, but what I couldn’t place. The water was so warm and soothing like being wrapped in a blanket. I let it take me, sinking down under the water trying to wash it all away. When I surfaced he was watching, studying me with a raised brow. There was no cocky little smirk like he usually wore, no eye rolls or snarky comments, just wide curious eyes. Pietro watched over me quietly for some time before he couldn’t help himself._

_“Why were you crying in the woods?” Even in that low tone, that thick accent I could hear his concern._

_“I wasn’t …good enough,” the haunting numbness in my voice made his eyes dart around and squint._

_“What do you mean?” He leaned his elbow on the edge of the tub._

_“I wasn’t enough for him.” I wanted to be strong, I needed to be strong. I finally saw what my brain was trying to keep from my heart, Stephen just wasn’t meant to be._

_“For who?” His brows furrowed curiously, but he had a look he was afraid to press too much._

_He could see the tears welling up in my eyes again threatening to spill. Pietro opened his mouth to speak but clamped shut with a sigh. The wrinkles appeared on his forehead and his eyes twitched in thought. The anxiety filled his eyes watching the quiver in my lips, the heavy sigh that made my shoulders drop and my body hunch in on itself. Bringing my knees to my chest I wound my arms around them and stared ahead at the picture of ocean waves on his wall._

_“You’re more than enough Princessa,” he crooked his finger under my chin turning my head towards him. “Whoever he was, **HE** wasn’t good enough for you.”_

**********

“You can’t do whatever you want Y/n,” Steve scowled at her. Bucky and Sam hid their laughter.

“I can because I fucking said so, besides I have a note,” she snapped sarcastically holding up a piece of paper that read 'I hereby give myself permission to do what I want, when I want,’ signed 'go Fuck yourself’. “You don’t own me, Captain Puerto Rico,” she growled, hands on her hips staring up at him defiantly unafraid of his size. Sam knew where she was going with that little comment as his grin widened smacking Bucky on his shoulder.

“What… Captain Puerto Rico?! How do you figure Y/n?” Steve sputtered in a loss for words.

“Are you fucking serious?!” She snipped with a smirk so intriguing. “Your 'costume’ isn’t an American flag you dipshit, it’s a fucking rip off of the Puerto Rican flag, jackass. So take your fake valor acting 'Captain’ attitude and shove it up your fucking ass you giant Dildo.”

“Y/n this hostility is completely uncalled for, and I am NOT a dildo,” Steve was blushing at the torrent of language flowing off her tongue.

“Fuck off, I’d call you a dick but you aren’t real enough to be one,” and with that, she snatched the television remote out of his hand, flopped down on the couch, feet up on the coffee table and turned on an MMA match leaving Steve completely speechless.

It was aggressive days like that when her walls were up and guarded. Her attitude thrust outward towards others because of a mission gone wrong. The angrier she was the more evident it was that the lives she couldn’t save had been young. She took the loss of life poorly, to begin with, but the younger the victim the more she projected. It took every ounce of effort and sheer will she had left in her to prevent the storms.

It was her 'gift’ her parents had called it, but she thought of it as a curse. The weather changed at the drop of a hat if she let her emotions get the better of her. More often than not that’s why she’d hide away in her room deep in meditation or the gym unwilling to take it out on those that didn’t deserve it, but the Gods forbid anyone got in the middle of her watching an MMA fight.

“You can’t ignore this party Y/n and you will not hide in the media room all night,” Steve retorted. “Either show up or I’ll send it down here.”

“You wouldn’t dare!!” She sat up straight scowling, lightning crackling in the skies above illuminating the Compound.

“Care to take that chance?” Steve called her bluff. He squared his shoulders and stood tall. Crossing his arms over his chest staring down at her with a wiry smirk.

**********

The alcohol was flowing, and the music increasingly becoming nothing more than low noise in the background as the night progressed. Y/n didn’t 'hate’ parties as much as she hated the fakeness of it. All those people clamoring to get in and mingle with the Avengers under false pretenses. Wanting their fifteen minutes of fame or to succeed in intimate acts that would garner them money from the tabloids.

It hadn’t gone a miss to all of the team and those in SHIELD how much she’d changed over the last couple of months. The once comically sweet firecracker had become sullen and moody. Stray lightning storms and earthquakes, even a full-blown monsoon had popped up when she’d allowed herself to feel. The smile no longer lingered on her lips, replaced with an almost permanent purse of sadness. Long gone were the jokes and pranks with Clint, gone was the laughter altogether. A cloud of misery hung over her that she refused to let go of. It’d become too intoxicating that darkness.

Her nights spent wet in tears watching the raindrops slip down the window outside pining for the closure of a love that never should have been. A love that wouldn’t let go of its hold on her, clutching a tight hold on a heart that didn’t beat the same anymore. Too many times she tried to leave, tried to escape from it, but it refused to let her go. That tall man with galaxies in his eyes filled her dreams, pleading his apologies. Down on bended knee in front of her each night, his tears creating a river that swallowed her whole. She’d gasp for air and flail trying to keep her head above water but farther she’d sink until the roaring whine from her alarm woke her from her sleep.

She stood by the bar sipping her beer, under-dressed for the occasion and not giving one fuck about it. Couples on the dance floor, smiling, dancing the night away. Everywhere she looked there were people in various states of love and all she felt was numbness. Happy smiling faces unaware she was drowning inside herself. Y/n never saw him hidden on the edge of the crowd watching her. Himself drowning in his own self-hatred as he watched the first person he’d allowed himself to love to appear so changed and broken and it was all his fault.

Drink after drink she swallowed down, hoping to fill the emptiness inside with something other than loneliness. No matter what, her mind had always come back to it being her fault. She wasn’t enough, not enough in looks or intelligence. The abilities she tried to keep hidden suddenly on display for all to see after that rainy and emotionally raw day on the Sanctum steps.

Nevermind what the others had told her repeatedly trying to convince Y/n that her only fault was loving too hard and too fast. Y/n only spoke of a broken heart after days of neverending questions from the team. Never once did she mention his name, nor did she think of his face in the presence of Wanda. They all told her the only pitfall was allowing that 'love’ to consume her very being, giving so much of herself with little in return; that was her only fault they said, but her mind still told her it was a fault that was solely hers alone not his.

“Come dance with me Princessa,” Pietro stood before her flashing his killer smile as the wind from his sudden appearance left her hair swaying in its breeze.

“I’m not in the mood Speedy,” her slurred words sounded empty, but he’d spent enough time seeing her walling herself away.

_He wasn’t taking no for an answer, not anymore. It had been his shoulder that she cried on each night. His hands stroked her back and smoothed her hair in comfort. Pietro’s lips were the ones that spoke all the words she needed to hear. Spoke of her intelligence and wit, her sass and humor, the slightly crooked smile that was too good for anyone to witness anyhow._

_He told her every night as she fell asleep that her laughter was the music of the gods. That her kind nature and the way she cared so much for everyone made her more important than any person he’d ever met. Pietro was there for her when she needed it the most. Sneaking in her room at night when he knew it was the worst. Holding her close and tight letting her cry herself out of tears. When she’d finally fall asleep he’d tuck her in, blanket up snug around her._

_He’d lean over her sleeping form, brush the hair out of her face leaving a gentle barely felt kiss on her forehead. Crossing the room he would turn on her stereo playing a 10-hour loop of Marconi Union’s Weightless. Pietro had found out about the soothing effects of the song from an overheard conversation amongst his sister, Nat, and Pepper. It was Pepper’s weapon against Tony, she’d pipe it into his lab until he was relaxed and sleepy enough to crawl into bed._

_Each night before he left her room Pietro would glance back at her from the doorway. Mesmerized by the stormy princess that lay in that bed. The sound of her sigh in her sleep as the music took it’s hold, the faint hint of a smile curling up on the edge of her mouth. That adorable way she rubbed her head against the pillow as she turned on her side. She was magnificent, even in the dimly lit room, he could see the beauty that others just didn’t notice._

_“I will love you for a lifetime and beyond Princessa, even if you never feel the same. You’re more than any man could wish for.”_

Pietro picked her up and off they sped onto the dance floor. He held onto her hands refusing to let go nodding toward the DJ. Bouncy music with lots of bass came thumping through the speakers and down into the floor. He held his smile and eyes on her dancing, moving her arms in sync with him. One of his hands slid from her wrist to her waist nudging them to move to the beat. It didn’t take long before she cracked a grin and flowed along with the music dancing with Pietro. He let go of his hold on Y/n and away she went dancing around him, her body moving and gyrating in beat with a long misplaced smile on her face.

The action didn’t go unnoticed by a single member of the team in the room, money exchanged hands along with groans. Tony had started a betting pool over who would be the one to bring her out of the funk. All were surprised that Pepper had called it being Pietro. Even from the start of the bet, Pepper smiled softly and said it’d be Pietro. None of the others believed her at the time, but then again no one else but Pepper had seen Pietro carrying her inside that rainy night. No one but Pepper had noticed him coming and going from her room each night.

“Who would have thought it would have taken Speedy and some EDM to get her to crack,” Tony chuckled from across the room internally hating that Pepper was right all along.

Y/n and Pietro danced a better part of the night away smiling as if no one else was in the room. Pepper was the only one that didn’t gasp as they witnessed Y/n grinding on Pietro when the music had taken a slower turn. That look in Y/n’s eyes and the way it made Pietro smirk. There was an aura wafting off the two of them, a pull keeping them close together. It only got more heated when Aviva’s 'Princesses Don’t Cry’ thumped through the speakers.

Suddenly Y/n and Pietro had become like an addiction, the rest of the team couldn’t take their eyes off them. They were practically nose to nose as they danced, Pietro’s hand lingering on her hip, fingers trailing over her cheek. Y/n’s thumb sweeping over his lips and delving into his hair. Dancing with her was the only time anyone had ever seen him slow down for more than a minute. Pietro smirked biting his bottom lip at how her eyes changed color at his touch. The rosy hue on her face and neck had nothing to do with the dancing either.

All was fine until Y/n finally noticed Stephen, the regret in his eyes and the frown he wore. His eyes never left her, never acknowledged Pietro’s close presence to her or the way his lips touched her ear as he whispered something that made her blush. For a brief second, she smiled at Stephen causing him to raise a hand in a weak attempt at a wave. She felt her heart pound roughly against her chest only for it to pause before slamming against it again. The beat became faster and harder, endorphins and oxytocin flooding her system seeing him again, watching him approach, but was it because of Stephen?

Pulling away from Pietro, she stood anxiously. Lightning flashed outside the windows, the low rumble of thunder in the distance. A handful of people watched the patterns forming in the lightning, the rhythmic way it struck in the sky like a heartbeat. Pietro wanted to be the jealous type, but how could he be jealous over something that wasn’t his no matter how much he wanted her. It didn’t prevent him from resting a hand on her back.

One for comfort in case she needed it and two it would have been easy to sneak his arm fully around her before speeding off with her away from Strange. It didn’t take a genius to figure it out. How Strange’s eyes followed her, the regret in his eyes. Pietro knew it’d been him that broke her heart. It was the sorcerer that chewed her up and spit her out without a second thought and it angered him. It took more willpower than he possessed to keep from throwing a punch at the good doctor.

“Y/n,” visibly nervous, Stephen’s hands shaking worse than ever, a fact he tried to hide holding them behind his back.

“Stephen,” his name tumbled off her lips so softly he hardly heard it, but none the less he’d never heard a more beautiful sound than his name as it left her mouth.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted out rather loudly in his nervousness, a few heads turned their way watching curiously. Even if Y/n slapped his face, screamed at him, yelled for him to leave at least he’d meant those two little words. He never thought he’d be forgiven, but he had to say it.

“Uh sure,” though her smile slightly faded watching his brows knit together perplexed. “Drink?”

“Y-yes,” he stammered confused over the lack of anger on her part. He followed her to the bar and sat beside her.

They drank side by side at the bar in partial silence. Idle chatter chatter filled with the weather and how annoying Tony was. Always skirting the real issue that gnawed at both of them. The way she gave everything she had to him and how he threw it away. He wanted the smile on her face to be genuine, wanted to go back and change it all, get it right, but he couldn’t without consequences. She wanted to go back and not give her all, not love so fast and hard, but mistakes are meant to be a learning curve.

“So,” Y/n sipped her beer avoiding his gaze trying to contain the frustration inside her being so close to him after all this time. “Christine said you’re an asshole and that your massive ego and elitist attitude would always be your downfall.”

“Chri-Christine what?!” Stephen spit out his bourbon stuttering.

“Yeah, Wong apparently told her what happened and she called me. Said she didn’t expect anything less from you. Actually she thought you would have fucked it up sooner. You probably did and I was too stupid to see it.”

“I-I, I’m sorry,” he wanted to explain, to apologize profusely, but instead sat in silence watching her in the mirror behind the bar. Her eyes not wanting to meet his, instead they searched toward the end of the bar.

It took them awhile in that awkward silence to notice the party had thinned out only Avenger’s left. Clint was wrangling the others toward the couches. Stephen sat across from her not willing to overstep his bounds, not when they were just starting to talk again. He tried over the past few months in all manner of ways magical and mundane to speak with her. Y/n would never respond, but there she sat with a smile, even if it was mostly because of the buzz of liqueur coursing through her.

Clint muttered in everyone’s ear with a terrible mischievous grin on his face before flopping himself beside Stephen. Round and round the tight-knit group went in a game of Truth or Dare. Embarrassing antics and truths out on full display leaving the group in a fit of laughter. Y/n’s long lost laughter ringing in his ears giving him the false impression that all would be alright between them, maybe he’d get a second chance. Confidence slowly filling him as he studied her from across the way.

“Truth or dare?” Stephen asked with a thin-lipped smile curled on one edge of his mouth seeing the way her eyes slowly fluttered hearing him speak. It was obvious to him that she still felt something.

“T-truth,” Y/n stammered sobering up quick.

“Do you want to kiss me?” The smile turned upward on his mouth, the lines and dimples that appeared on his cheeks. A playful glint in his eyes as he watched the blush slowly creep up her neck and redden her cheeks.

“Dare,” she shook her head with wide eyes. Stephen only leaned in closer, resting his forearms on his knees. His ego was stroked seeing the blurry thoughts running randomly around in her head.

“Then I dare you to kiss me,” he smirked at her reaction. The momentary shock filling her eyes only to blink away in a second as those same eyes looked around the room and the rest of her friends.

“Never have I eve…” her words sped out in a flurried breath. She felt Pietro tense up beside her, felt the buzz of energy flowing through him.

“That’s not the game,” Stephen smiled ignoring the death glare from Pietro beside Y/n.

“I can’t,” she shook her head. The loud booming thunder pounded in the skies, lightning flashed. Pietro let his arm fall on Y/n back between her shoulder blades, his thumb rubbing roughly sensing her agitation.

“Why not?” Ignoring the rules of the game that called for her to drink a shot, Stephen cocked his head to the side finally seeing what he hadn’t before.

“I just can’t okay.” Pushing herself off the couch she walked away with Pietro following close behind. The moment Pietro’s hand rested on the small of her back the weather seized and calmed.

**********

“Did you honestly believe you could win her back with that little trick?” Loki mused stepping out of the shadows from the balcony.

Stephen wasn’t surprised to see him not since Thor had brought him back to Earth under the guise of serving penance for his actions. All Stephen wanted was some air not a smug lecture by the God of Mischief.

“What does it matter to you?” Stephen hissed refusing to give in to the obvious.

“Oh, it matters greatly if you must know,” Loki grinned standing near Stephen watching him with interest.

“And why’s that? Does the God of Lies, Chaos, and Destruction think he stands a chance with someone like her?” The venom in his words and the surly way he turned his head towards his aggressor.

“It amuses me,” Loki smirked resting his hands above the metal railing staring into the night sky. “All that honor you pretend to have, all that power and you never once thought to look into your own future?” Loki cocked his head to the side-eyeing Strange with a squint. “Never once did you glimpse into hers either, pity.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Stephen growled taking a menacing step towards Loki. The magic inside him crackling, aching to release damage.

“The fate of the entire galaxy rests in the hands of that woman.” He could tell Strange didn’t believe him. The one time Loki needed people to believe him the most. “A great evil is coming to this pathetic little planet and it’ll rain down death and destruction, but that woman. That silly neurotic little woman is the only hope you humans have.”

“No one should know too much about their own future,” Stephen glared with a snide grimace.

“True, but in this case… I wouldn’t follow through with what you have planned. 'Let sleeping dogs lay’ as you people so fondly say. Trust me, no good will come to anyone if you do as you’re thinking right now.” Loki quirked an eye at Stephen before poofing away in a cloud of green smoke.

**********

_The fields were full of soldiers, Wakanda’s best and fiercest warriors. Several Avengers themselves stood shoulder to shoulder ready for the fight. They watched in awe as the massive ships landed on the other side of the barrier. Rows and rows of furious and gnarly looking aliens exited the ships. Snarling and pacing, chomping at the bit to get inside and feast. Wave after wave threw themselves at the shield barrier trying to find a weak spot._

_Y/n stood tall near the front of the line, her battle gear making her appear as an innocent foot soldier. Her long hair up in Viking braids swayed from side to side as she cracked her neck. She was itching for the fight just as much and the intruders on the other side. Steve patted her shoulder and nodded offering a solemn smile._

_“Sorry this day had to end like this,” the disappointment in his voice only made her shake her head._

_“It was as normal as it was ever going to get,” she smiled feeling the force of air stop beside her._

_“They’re circling the barrier looking for a way in,” Pietro spoke rapidly toward Steve and T'Challa as he clasped his fingers between hers._

_Pietro brought her hand to his lips kissing her knuckles smirking at the silver ring snug around her ring finger. It wasn’t exactly how either of them had planned their wedding to go, but that was just their luck. Y/n took a step toward Pietro cupping his face in her hands. There was love and devotion in her eyes as she gazed at him. He looked back with a determination, survival was on his mind. She had to survive at all cost if only for his own selfishness of her love._

_“More than any man could have ever wished for,” he grinned leaning in planting a kiss on her mouth._

_The barrier was ordered opened by command of T'Challa, an attempt to turtle the enemy. Forcing them to go where he wanted them, but things quickly got out of hand. Bodies falling quicker than expected, the wounded outnumbered the healthy. Shrill cries of death and triumph filled the air. Y/n felt the static charge moments before Thor appeared with allies in tow. Bellowing for Thanos he fought his way through the barrage of enemies. Seconds felt like minutes. Minutes felt like hours, but they fought._

_Y/n could see Thanos on the edge of some trees brought down to his knees by Thor. Talking, rambling, too many words. Thor angry over the loss of Loki, of his people. Too many chances for something to go horribly wrong and Y/n knew it. Glancing at Pietro, he was bent over catching his breath, bloodied but alive. He nodded her way knowing that look she had, knew what was about to happen._

_Digging down deep pulling up every emotion that clung to her like a bad stench. Letting the anguish and joy, heartache and admiration fill every ounce of her. Clouds billowed in from nowhere. Lightning crackled and thunder rumbled. A violent static charge filled the air. The temperature dropped rapidly sending a chill through the valley. Heavy shards of ice fell from the skies, molding, and shaping on the way down slicing into the flesh of the alien hoard. The storm especially strong and mainly isolated over Thanos._

_Thor tried interfering with Y/n’s ability, attempted to overpower her lightning with his, but he only failed. The act of trying to thwart her efforts to end Thanos spurned her on. The thunderstorm churned and darkened above blocking out all light. Thor’s massive hand holding Thanos by his head. Again with the speeches and too many words. Thor vowing that he’d pay for everything that he’d done. Y/n could feel the power in her building, coursing through her veins. Her body felt like it was on fire, burning from the inside out._

_“You should have gone for the head,” Thanos smiled up at Thor, his fingers ready to snap the Gauntlet._

_“Great idea,” Y/n growled loudly stunning Thanos momentarily._

_A bolt of lightning with more force than four atomic blasts careened from the sky. The power within that lightning singed the trees in its way burnt to a crisp. The heat had people of all types scattering backward and away. Blinding light had all covering their eyes except Y/n. Her eyes stayed glued to the sight of the lightning striking Thanos in his bulbous head. The smell of burnt flesh and charred clothing filled the air. His eyes locked on hers with a sickening smile from his half-burnt face. His hand trembled, fingers shook trying to snap together._

_Shards of ice as sharp as knives rained down on Thanos. Snarling cries echoed in the storm as his hand sliced off his arm, the Gauntlet clattering to the ground. Y/n screamed, a bloodcurdling heart-wrenching scream. Pain erupted through her. Stabbing pains in her limbs. A blazing fire licked and bit at her insides that had her falling to her knees. The lightning struck over and over, Thanos was nothing more than a pile of burning flesh._

_Y/n crumbled to the ground, her body curling inward. So much pain, everything hurt. It felt as if she was burning alive and being sliced to pieces at the same time. Pietro rushed to her side in horror watching as her skin changed colors. Bubbling burns started to form as tiny as the eraser on a pencil only to grow and spread. Flaky bits of her skin falling to the ground. Layer upon layer of skin shred itself from her body. Her hair caught fire in a flash. Burned flesh and hair. A smell none could ever forget._

_“Get back!” She screamed, the terror and fear in her voice._

_Her vision blurred, the figures of her friends and teammates blurring and fuzzy. The world faded into darkness. Pietro called out to her, pleaded with her but what could he do? She heard him struggling against someone maybe Steve. His voice fading away in the distance. She could hear the sound of footsteps, the walk of a warrior._

_“What can I do?” Thor’s strained voice questioned helplessly._

_“I don’t know,” she coughed. The taste of copper filled her mouth. “Get everyone back, far away. I feel like I’m going to explode. I’ve never… never pushed myself this much before.”_

_A cold drizzle of rain fell around her. The smell of wet soil, cold wet muddy dirt filled her nose. Droplets splashed all around her. Curling herself into a ball, her body turning in on itself. Stabbing burning pain felt through each molecule of her body. The deluge of water, the storm of all storms. A monsoon of rain lashed out and pelted Y/n drowning out her cries of torment. For hours the rain fell, burying her in muddy earth and water. Torturous hours that Pietro’s heart shattered. She was in pain, possibly dying and all alone. Each time he tried to race back towards her a stray bolt of lightning would slap into the ground in front of him as a warning._

_It was a full day of storms. Twenty four hours of wind and rain. One thousand four hundred and forty minutes of thunder and lightning. Eighty-six thousand and four hundred seconds of water pouring down onto the spot where Y/n had fallen. The skies cleared, the sun shined down and Pietro was there before anyone could tell him otherwise. The Gauntlet long gone, taken away by Steve and into the depths of the laboratories of Wakanda._

_He knew the exact spot where she’d been and yet found nothing but deep muck. Clawing and tearing at the dirt with his bare hands. Using his speed to his advantage clearing away hundreds of pounds of wet dirt. He felt it before he saw it. Her hair, muted and coated in dirt and muck. Matted and weighed down it blended into the surroundings. Digging, shoving dirt and debris out of his way._

_Second and third-degree burns covered the entirety of her body, some parts of her looked as if they’d been melted. The strands and patches of her hair charred and shriveled. She coughed and sputtered up dirt and blood. P{ietro wiped away the caked-on mud in her eyes, slowly they blinked open. White, pure white, white as snow, that’s the color that looked back at him._

_“Princessa!” The cry stuck in his throat._

_Her fingers unfurled, grasping onto his arm, but she couldn’t hear. Blinded, deafened, her body mangled. Y/n’s mouth opened but nothing came out, not a sound. Flailing and whimpering, helpless. Pietro pulled her gingerly out of the ground and rocked her in his arms, but he felt her slowly slipping away. Her fingers reaching out for his face, holding her palm to his cheek._

_“You … made me … good enough Pietro.” Y/n was the last casualty in Thanos’ plight to demolish half of the Galaxy._

Loki’s fingers moved away from Stephen’s temples. The shock and horror of the future, her fate… he couldn’t contain the emotion. Lurching over his armchair the contents spewed out of his stomach. The wretched acidic bile burning his throat. The stench assaulted his nose, crinkling trying to hide away from the smell. He didn’t believe Loki, but what would he have to gain from showing him this possibility?

He sat back in the chair, wiping his mouth with the back of his shirt. Stephen had to know, had to know if it was real. Was that the future to come? Would she really sacrifice her all to save all worlds? He searched all possibilities. Searched through how the future would play out if he won her back. The future scenario that Loki had shown him was the worst, but he didn’t want it to be so.

All the ways it could have worked out and only one he found had her alive and unharmed. A singular act of sacrifice on his part would change it all. Could he stop that selfishness brewing inside him? Could he put his ego aside, his need for her for the greater good? Stephen didn’t want to let her go. He wanted that precious gift of a woman in his arms again, but the Universe had shown him what the end result would be and it could never transpire.

**********

Pietro found himself standing face to face with a guilty Strange. The orange portal still glowing and swirling behind him. He was winded and guilt-ridden. Pietro eyed him anxiously. How dare this man appear in his room after his antics earlier. The urge to punch him in his face swelling inside him. Stephen held his hand up in an offer of submission, his other hand pulling out a silver necklace from his pocket.

“Give this to her,” Stephen pleaded with softened misty eyes.

“I’m not giving her anything from you!” The rage in each syllable as Pietro growled.

“Tell her it’s a gift from you, please.” Strange thrust the necklace in Pietro’s hand.

“Why should I do that?” The wrathful glare in his eyes.

“Please, it will protect her from what’s to come.” The sorcerer never looked more vulnerable as he did now.

“And why should I believe you?”

Strange waved his free hand, a small portal formed before Pietro’s eyes. Glimpses of the battle, the storms, and Thanos filled his eyes. The blood and the screaming. The fallen bodies of comrades all over the grassy field. Y/n giving Pietro a kiss with such raw emotion. Her rage and anger swirling around her. The bolt of lightning striking Thanos. The Gauntlet rolling on the ground around from his body.

Her body engulfed in fire and smoke. Bloodcurdling screams fled her mouth for people to get back. Pietro calling out to her as he was pulled away. The rain and mud, churning and moving beneath the ground as she crumbled. Her body sinking, burning, bleeding, being swallowed whole by the ground. Rain and thunder, lightning crackling in the skies. Pietro watched as an older version of himself sped across the field. Dropping to his knees, clawing at the mud. Pulling her out, blinded, bloodied and dying her held her in his arms.

“What the fuck was that?!” He snarled, his body wavering on the spot after seeing that sight.

“It’s what will happen if she doesn’t have this. Please, whatever you do make sure…” Stephen stepped forward towering over Pietro meekly. “Never let her take this off or that will be her fate.”

Pietro nodded clutching the necklace in his hand. He didn’t trust Strange, but if that future had even the slightest chance of happening, he’d do everything in his power to keep it from coming true. He never saw Stephen leave while he was lost in thought, the image of her wearing his mother’s wedding band dying in his arms. He’d barely gotten her affections and now the possibility of losing her altogether tugged at his heart. Racing across his bedroom, he flung open the door bouncing into a body. Both tumbled to the floor in a heap of limbs.

“Whoa Speedy, what’s the rush?” Y/n chuckled her mouth inches from his face.

He couldn’t take his eyes off her. Too many chances to tell her how he felt, too many times he chickened out. There she was lying beneath him on the hallway floor. Messy braids and flushed cheeks. Starry eyes peering up at him. That sinful little smirk of hers he missed so much watching his mouth open and close unsure what to say. 'Fuck it,’ he thought.

Leaning in, closing that tiny gap between them he pressed his lips to hers. Needy and hungry. Hearing that little moan escape her mouth only encouraged him. Fingers caressing her cheek, running a feather-like trail down her neck. Y/n took the leap grasping a handful of his ass pulling him snug against her. Pietro pulled away chuckling catching his breath grinning down at her.

“Hello Princessa,” that smirk, he knew that smirk was her weakness even without the ability to read her mind.

“Heya Speedy,” grinning widely. Her fingers digging into his ass, kneading, creating a friction that had him groaning.

“You and me,” he mumbled softly biting his lip.

“Me and you,” she nodded.

Grinning like a fool Pietro had them both off the floor and on their feet. His hands around her neck in a flash. The coolness of the metal sent a shiver down her spine. Her head dipped forward, eyes glinting at the silver chain adorned with a silver lightning bolt. Her fingers laced around the charm running it up and down the chain with a smirk.

“Old Sokovian tradition,” he winked. “It brings the couple eternal good luck in the here and now and the afterlife. Superstition says if the wearer takes it off… well we’ll save that story for another time.”

“You’d have to pry it off my cold dead body,” she joked pulling Pietro into a hug.

The comment made him tense, but he shook it off. The visions showed to him by Strange all too fresh in his mind. Tugging her tight against him afraid to let go. He’d do anything to prevent what he saw, anything.

“Don’t say such things Princessa,” he whispered in her ear. “I can’t bear to think of a world without you.” If only she knew.


End file.
